


Frames of Reference

by Nix (CrimsonQuills)



Category: NCIS
Genre: Challenge Response, Drama, M/M, Not Episode Related, Not a Crossover, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-28
Updated: 2007-04-28
Packaged: 2019-03-02 07:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13313073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonQuills/pseuds/Nix
Summary: Written for the ncis_flashfic "Relativity" challenge. The theory of relativity as metaphor. The world didn't wait for Gibbs.





	Frames of Reference

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Jessi, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [ MTAC](https://fanlore.org/wiki/MTAC), an archive of NCIS fanfiction which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after August 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator (and this work is still attached to the archivist account), please contact me using the e-mail address on [ the MTAC collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/mtac/profile)

  
Author's notes: Not betaed. And after Synergy, thank goodness this flashfic is actually of flashfic length!  


* * *

Time passes more slowly in Mexico than it does in the rest of the world. 

At least, that's how it seems to Gibbs, now that he's back in D.C. Or maybe it's not Mexico that's the problem. Maybe it's trip there and back that slowed things down, the process of travel subjecting Gibbs to Einstein's time dilation. 

However it happened, the end result is that while Gibbs was struggling to pull together the pieces of himself as he _is_ (or was), the rest of the world has moved past him, progressed further, grown. Changed. Being forced to play catch up all over again is...unsettling. 

It's not that he expected the world to stand still--or at least slow down to his pace--and wait for him. He just didn't _care_. It didn't matter what passed him by, because he wasn't going back. Hell, he _wanted_ all the bullshit and the changes that clashed so harshly with his sense of himself to pass him by. 

But he's been tossed back into the middle of it now and it's harder than he expected to pretend like he's the same as he always has been. He's not entirely sure he's succeeding; the strange looks his team shoots him covertly (at least, they _think_ they're being covert) when he does something simple like hand them coffee tells him he's not getting it quite right. 

Hopefully they'll get used to it, because he doesn't think he's going to get much closer to how he was. 

Of all the changes, all the people and relationships that have grown past Gibbs, Tony is the most obvious, his differences the most jarring. Gibbs remembers a young man with excellent investigative instincts who could use a little more discipline. He remembers moments of inspiration and long, hard nights when he and Tony were the only ones who managed not to pass out, but he also remembers Tony goofing off and spending as much effort on investigating his coworkers as on the case. 

But now...now Gibbs can't be sure if Tony has changed or if his memory is at fault, more of Tony's finer moments edited out of his recollections. Whichever it is, the Tony he finds himself working with now is more focused, more decisive than he's used to. 

It's thrown off his rhythm, but instead of irritating him, Gibbs is finding it almost impossible to dismiss Tony the way he used to. It's harder to look away from him, harder to stop thinking about him, harder to stop himself from reaching out to touch. Harder to keep his distance. 

Impossible, in fact. 

Gibbs reaches up and knocks on Tony's door, hoping the man hasn't been watching him through the peephole, because he's been standing here an embarrassingly long time. Thankfully, the door takes a few seconds to open, but Gibbs doesn't have much time for relief because Tony is wearing shorts and a t-shirt and his skin is sheened with sweat. He must have been in the middle of a workout. 

"Gibbs," he says, not sounding the least bit surprised, and smiles. "Come on in. Have a cup of coffee." 

Gibbs steps across the threshold and smiles...and he and Tony snapped back into the same frame of reference. 

\--End--


End file.
